Animation Full-Time Hybrid

Technical Director

Technical Director – Animation at LEGO Digital Play

Job Overview

LEGO Digital Play is seeking a visionary Technical Director – Animation to lead the development of advanced character animation systems. This role combines hands-on engineering, strategic technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration to create next-generation animation tools, systems, and pipelines.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead architecture and development of advanced character animation systems using C++ and scripting frameworks.
  • Define the long-term technical vision for animation systems, procedural animation, physics interaction, and AI-driven behaviors.
  • Collaborate with animation directors, gameplay engineers, technical artists, and designers.
  • Implement runtime systems such as animation graphs, state machines, locomotion frameworks, and procedural animation.
  • Optimize engine animation architecture for scalability and performance across platforms.
  • Develop scripting frameworks and APIs for content teams.
  • Drive CPU/GPU performance optimization of animation systems.
  • Partner with tools and pipeline teams to improve workflows for animators and technical artists.
  • Lead, mentor, and grow a team of animation engineers.
  • Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies like machine learning-driven animation and real-time simulation.
  • Ensure integration between animation, gameplay, AI, networking, and interaction systems.
  • Champion engineering excellence, maintainable architecture, and documentation.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in game engine development, real-time graphics, or interactive character systems.
  • Deep expertise in C++ and large-scale engine system design.
  • Experience with scripting systems for animation frameworks and engines.
  • Strong background in animation blending, locomotion systems, state machines, and procedural animation.
  • Understanding of character rigging, skeletal animation, IK, motion matching, and animation graphs.
  • Experience building scalable animation pipelines and workflows.
  • Leadership experience mentoring engineers and influencing cross-functional teams.
  • Strong architecture and optimization skills for multi-platform performance.
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

What Success Looks Like

  • Build a robust and extensible animation architecture.
  • Deliver core runtime systems for expressive and responsive character behaviors.
  • Establish engineering standards and scalable development practices.
  • Improve iteration speed and productivity for content creators.
  • Mentor the engineering team and foster innovation.
  • Support future advancements like ML-driven animation and motion synthesis.

Join LEGO Digital Play and help shape the future of interactive animation systems and digital play experiences.

Apply Now

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